My first winter trip to Baxter State Park

[Tramper Al]

Planning:

I conceived of this trip in mid October, as a means to get myself into Baxter with a few friends. The seemingly bewildering maze of BSP winter trip regulations can be mastered, and I am living proof. I chose North Brother as our goal, and a luxurious cabin on Kidney Pond as our base for winter's final weekend.

I tried to gather a diverse group of strong winter hikers, limited as we were by our cabin size of six bunks. I really wish everyone could have come along.

It was a very good thing that we started with a group of 6, because one cancelled just a few days prior, and another could not escape a work emergency on the eve of the trip. And then there were four! Four is the BSP minimum for above treeline travel, if you are keeping score.

Preliminary evening:

The group (Blue, Kevin R, Al D and me) all met up at one of Medway's finer roadside motels, finalized plans, and got a little sleep.

Day 1: Ski in to Kidney Pond

We drove up the Golden Road to Abol Bridge, and after chatting with the ranger for a minute or two, we were underway about 9:00 am. Visibility was limited this day, and we had a few snow flurries off and on. We were all skiing, pulling pulks, and loving it. Our route took us straight over to the Tote Road at Abol Pond. We traveled on and off with a trio headed for Roaring Brook, then we turned left on the tote.

The quiet, peaceful feel of the park in winter was very comforting, as we climbed several hundred feet. First we passed Abol CG, then Katahdin Stream CG, then the AT route into Daicey Pond. We decided to stick to the road with our big sleds, and pulled off the tote into the Kidney Pond access road a little after 2:00 pm. Here we were soon treated to the first of our Pine Marten encounters, as the little guy was out hunting, loping along parallel to our path for several hundred yards. Our presence did not seem to bother him in the least.

After 12 miles of skiing, around 3:00 pm, we arrived at serene Kidney Pond camp, located our cabin, and settled in around the woodstove, ably fired throughout by Kevin R. After a few hours of feasting and trading stories, it was off to bed early, in anticipation of our morning departure to climb North Brother from the Marston Trailhead, still 5 miles away.

 

[Tramper Al]

Day 2, North Brother/Fort, and pictures

Blue's Photos

Day 2: North Brother attempt

When dawn light reached Kidney Pond, we found that 2 inches of fresh snow has fallen. I walked out onto the pond and re-opened our water source in the ice. Kevin fired up the wood stove to take the edge off and we all gathered up for what promised to be a fine long day in the mountains.

I had hiked the "loop" of Fort-Brothers-Coe once before, joining several friends that day to celebrate their 67th NE 4K. I still remember that morning well, leaving Slide Dam before six, hiking solo, and running into all sorts of animals.

On this day, though, we skied (with sleds) over to the Marston trailhead, arriving about 8 am. Kevin actually walked, as 20 miles in winter doesn't seem to be much of a problem for him! We cut fresh tracks up the tote, observing all of the new animal prints along the way. Now, I imagined we might meet up with a group from the 'Sourdehunk bunkhouse, or tenters at Slide Dam - and compare notes. Instead, we had this corner of BSP all to ourselves and an unbroken trail to pack. The sky began to clear as we climbed, giving us increasingly dramatic views back to Doubletop, and over to O-J-I, Coe and eventually South Brother. We cut across the Beaver Pond and we climbed and climbed. The bears were all sleeping in today.

At the junction to South Brother, we still couldn't see the top of North Brother, as it held its own ominous clouds for most of the day. The trail breaking began in earnest, as we lost the consolidated base we had lower down, and the snow progressively deepened. We never got to the point of counting steps, but the signal phrase for fatigue became " 98-99-100". North Brother came into view as the team strung out on the final ascent, to regroup in the lee of the largest boulder. The winds whipped us a bit as winter had returned to Baxter above treeline.

While we had a designated leader, all decisions were made by open discussion and consensus. Blue is to be commended for being a great sport, asking each of us in turn (and herself as well) what were our motivations for a further bushwhack to Fort Mountain. Perhaps we gently coaxed her, perhaps she is really a peakbagger at heart (she denies!), but we were all feeling strong enough to try the bushwhack, so why not?

One problem, however, was that we could not see Fort from our own North Brother cloud. I picked a bearing from my GPSR (what's wrong with my compass(s) here?). And why did I choose this exact moment to tell the tentatively motivated Blue about the poor fellow who had tried to bushwhack to Fort, but died in the Klondike instead? Oooops.

The bushwhack was actually really nice, as Fort came into view not far down from North Brother's summit. I chose a route somewhat less traveled, to the left of the summer paths, and it made all the difference. The fir traps were fairly aggressive, but only about waist deep. Finding traps, it turns out, is one of Al D's specialties, as he many times discovered deep holes that we others has passed over in oblivion. When the point person succumbed to a trap, he/she was assisted and/or photographed, and another took over.

We emerged on the rocks of Fort, and achieved one of the hundred's most remote winter summits. Yeah! On Fort, we were treated to beautiful, surreal light patterns, breaking through the clouds onto neighboring Katahdin and its Tablelands. Look at Blue's stellar photos now, if you haven't already.

The climb back over North Brother was uneventful, and we contemplated completing the unbroken loop over South Brother and Coe for all of about a second, and smiling at that! Ah, my planning for another trip began at that very moment. We had brilliant views of next year's objectives on the descent, and reached our skis and sleds at the trailhead around dusk. Kevin sped off on foot, Blue followed skiing, and Al D and I formed the sweep, trying to spot the tote moguls in time.

The return to Kidney Pond by headlamp took another hour and a half or so, and when Al D and I arrived, Kevin and Blue had a good warm fire going and preparation of Blue's super tasty group dinner began. 21 miles, 13 hours, 2 remote Baxter peaks, a warm fire, Mrs. D's brownies, and friends. Honestly, can it get any better?

I didn't realize what an expert wood stove tender Kevin was until he crashed asleep early and the rest of us rather froze our asses, fiddling with the 'fire', inching ever closer and closer until finally retreating to our sleeping bags quite late, and feeling on the whole rather pleased with ourselves.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Tramper et al: well done. I can't tell you how disappointed I was to have missed this trip. It took a fairly serious injury to keep me out of the woods. I only waited until 3/2 to cancel as I was still holding out hope to join you. I have unfortunately also had to cancel out of my Katahdin trip this coming weekend so winter, for me, ended on 2/14. I'm hoping to get back on the trails by 4/3

With any luck, I'll be out there next year. A basecamp near the Marston/Coe intersection would be sweet! (legal?). I like March...

Liza: Most excellent photos!

 

[Papa Bear]

Al

Nice report and nice trip. And nice to see you posting here at VFTT again!

Pb

 

[MichaelJ]

Excellent retelling of what seems a wonderful trip. Congrats! You've resparked my energy for my Baxter trip this weekend (my mind has been clouded with desire to downhill ski this fresh snowstorm).

 

[Tramper Al]

Day 3: Time to go home

Day 3: Traveling back to civilization

We all awoke Sunday shortly after dawn to a crystal clear Baxter sky. We sat 'round the warm stove eating, laughing, and generally feeling quite fortunate to be where we were. It had been almost 2 full days since we had seen or heard another person.

I am very interested in paddling New England native canoe trails like the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. The ancient routes follow the paths of least resistance through waterways, portaging over land when necessary. Our route out took a similar approach, now in winter, just as the natives did before Europeans, State Parks, and trail maps came to Maine.

Kevin wanted to walk out to Abol Bridge via the tote, the way we came in, and said he did not mind doing so solo, while the rest of us headed out on a new route, and another adventure. We don't worry too much about Kevin.

The Foss and Knowlton Pond route is one I had vaguely heard about, but one that is not fully shown on either the AMC or Delorme Baxter maps. It is a winter route, over frozen Kidney Pond, Daicey Pond, Lost Pond, and Foss and Knowlton Pond, with dead-end portage trails connecting each one. And this is how Blue, Al D and I decided to head out.

Each icy pond yielded glorious views of mighty Katahdin and all the surrounding peaks, as you can see in Blue's photos. In no hurry, we skied out about 7-8 miles in about 5 hours on the trails up and down, traversing the ponds, lamenting our departure, and plotting a swift return to Baxter's winter splendor.

I'll be back.

 

[Michelle]

Very nice pictures Blue!

Katahdin in the winter....what a beautiful sight!

 

[spencer]

Great pics Blue!

I was just there for 5 days at RB and Chimney Pond. My pics will be up shortly

http://community.webshots.com/user/spencermeyer

Glad you guys had such a great trip!

spencer

 

[JackM]

I was just there for 5 days at RB and Chimney Pond. My pics will be up shortly

Did you happen to see anyone downhill skiing while you were there? The snow looks great and there are a few lines off the high ridges that look idea for skiing. Was the snow in good condition?

 

[spencer]

I was hoping to do some skiing, but I was the only one in the group who had fat boards and wanted to. Since I would have been alone, I figured it best to stay off the slopes...

We had just gotten maybe 6 inches of fresh snow and the conditions looked okay. I didn't do any formal avy assessment, but the gullies looked pretty hazardous with a lot of wind loading up high.

the touring was great though!


spencer

 

[SherpaKroto]

spencer: awesome shots! Congrats to Joe for the NE4K's! Damn - you seem to have all the fun! See you soon!

 

[Tramper Al]

Nice!

Very nice, Spencer.

It seems to me that the big broad massif of a mountain that you and your group climbed may be the very same one we were admiring from the Foss & Knowlton Pond Trail. Now I have yet another reason to go back to Baxter.

 

[bogorchis]

Great trip report!

Hi Tramper Al!
I enjoyed reading about your trip into Baxter. I was on a trip to Nesowdnehunk about three winters ago, and we went up to North Brother. Some of the group went on to Fort, but I was having some leg cramping that day, so I passed! I have a great shot of the summit of North Brother that I took that day. I had been into Chimney Pond earlier in the winter, but the weather was very cold, and we weren't able to summit Baxter - not with wind chills of -80 degrees below!!

What a special place Baxter is normally, but in the winter it is so unbelieveably peaceful! I would love to return next winter! I was the only one in the group that wasn't a skiier, but I plugged along from the bunkhouse to the Marston trailhead, and wasn't too much behind the last skiers!

Four very strong hikers did all four mts. that day - North Brother, Fort, So. Brother and Coe, getting back about 8:00 at night! What a trip that was!

 

[LauraM]

Tramper:

What a great trip report -- I am glad you had such a good time, and all those peaks to add to your list -- or is it that you cross them off your list? I have done a day trip ski into Foss and Knowlton ponds, they are really sweet, great views of Katahdin, like you described. Glad you had fun!

Loved Blue's pics, and Spencer's. Thanks for posting them.

Laura